LIFE

Hi, those few people who read this! My mom says I need to update this, so here it is. I am not very good at keeping this thing up to date because my life is not that exciting.

So I am in school for another semester, taking 12 credits equaling 7 classes. Yes that seems like a lot, a couple of the classes are just one credit each. I am still hoping to he done in April, but we shall see. I am thinking next semester is going to kill me! But if I do one more internship during the summer I can get another certificate on top of my degree. But we will see how it goes. I don't know what I am going to do after that.

I am still working in the great land of Wal-mart. I actually kind of like it there. I think it is more the people I work with than the actual work itself. I does get eventful sometimes. We had a gang fight in front of our store a week or so ago, don"t worry, the cops showed up before anything crazy happened. Everyone that was out there got arrested. It was pretty crazy.

So that is pretty much it. Exciting, I know. Oh, I had mentioned a guy I was dating. We are still dating. Nothing serious, don't worry.

I hope you all are doing well. Love ya!

Love this!

I know all my post lately have been not about my life but about things I have found that I have enjoyed and would like to share with you, and here is another one. I got this email a while ago but didn't open it until yesterday. It is awesome! I will try to catch you up on life soon, but for now enjoy what I did.



Luke AFB is west of
Phoenix and is rapidly being surrounded by
civilization that complains about the noise from
the base and its planes, forgetting that it was
there long before they were.. A certain
Lieutenant Colonel at Luke AFB deserves a big
pat on the back. Apparently, an individual who
lives somewhere near Luke AFB wrote the local
paper complaining about a group of F-16s that
disturbed his/her day at the mall.


When that individual read
the response from a Luke AFB officer, it must
have stung quite a bit.


The complaint:

'Question of the day for Luke
Air Force Base:

Whom do we
thank for the morning air show? Last Wednesday,
at precisely 9:11 A.M, a tight formation of four
F-16 jets made a low pass over Arrowhead Mall,
continuing west over Bell Road at approximately
500 feet. Imagine our good fortune! Do the
Tom Cruise-wannabes feel we need this wake-up
call, or were they trying to impress the
cashiers at Mervyns early bird special?


Any response would be
appreciated.


The response:


Regarding 'A wake-up call from
Luke's jets' On June 15, at precisely 9:12 am, a
perfectly timed four- ship fly by of F-16s from
the 63rd Fighter Squadron at Luke Air Force Base
flew over the grave of Capt. Jeremy Fresques.
Capt Fresques was an Air Force officer who was
previously stationed at Luke Air Force Base and
was killed in Iraq on May 30, Memorial Day.


At 9 am on June 15, his family and
friends gathered at Sunland Memorial Park in Sun
City to mourn the loss of a husband, son and
friend. Based on the letter writer's recount of
the fly by, and because of the jet noise, I'm
sure you didn't hear the 21-gun salute, the
playing of taps, or my words to the widow and
parents of Capt. Fresques as I gave them their
son's flag on behalf of the President of the
United States and all those veterans and
servicemen and women who understand the
sacrifices they have endured..

A
four-ship fly by is a display of respect the Air
Force gives to those who give their lives in
defense of freedom. We are professional aviators
and take our jobs seriously, and on June 15 what
the letter writer witnessed was four officers
lining up to pay their ultimate respects.


The letter writer asks, 'Whom
do we thank for the morning air show? The 56th
Fighter Wing will make the call for you, and
forward your thanks to the widow and parents of
Capt Fresques, and thank them for you, for it
was in their honor that my pilots flew the most
honorable formation of their lives.

Only 2 defining forces have
ever offered to die for you....Jesus Christ and
the American Soldier.
One died for your
soul, the other for your freedom.

Lt. Col. Grant L. Rosensteel,
Jr.

USAF

Movie

I am not a huge movie buff and there are not many movies i will spend my money buying or waste my time watching a second time but I found one. The movie is called Taking Chance, based on a true story, its about a man who volunteers to escort the body of a fallen soldier back to his home. It shows the proses and the respect that he got as he was on his way back to his family. I'm not going to lie, I cried but it brought a new perspective to the soldiers who have died and Iraq. If I knew how I would have down loaded the trailer but I couldn't figure it out, so here is the link so you can watch it. http://www.hbo.com/films/takingchance/video/video.html

A thought

I don't know how many of you know, but my bestest friend is servings as a soldier in Iraq right now. He emailed this to me and I thought it was really a good point of view.

A Soldier's Take on Michael Jackson's Death

This is written by a young soldier serving his third tour of duty in Iraq. Thought you might find his take on the Michael Jackson news interesting and he's right.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Folks,
Okay, I need to rant.

I was just watching the news, and I caught part of a report on Michael Jackson. As we all know, Jackson died the other day. He was an entertainer who performed for decades. He made millions, he spent millions, and he did a lot of things that make him a villain to many people. I understand that his death would affect a lot of people, and I respect those people who mourn his death, but that isn't the point of my rant.

Why is it that when ONE man dies, the whole of America loses their minds with grief? When a man dies whose only contribution to the country was to ENTERTAIN people, the American people find the need to flock to a memorial in Hollywood, and even Congress sees the need to hold a "moment of silence" for his passing?

Am I missing something here? ONE man dies, and all of a sudden he's a freaking martyr because he entertained us for a few decades? What about all those SOLDIERS who have died to give us freedom? All those Soldiers who, knowing that they would be asked to fight in a war, still raised their hands and swore to defend the Constitution and the United States of America. Where is their moment of silence? Where are the people flocking to their graves or memorials and mourning over them because they made the ultimate sacrifice? Why is it when a Soldier dies, there are more people saying "good riddance," and "thank God for IEDs?" When did this country become so calloused to the sacrifice of GOOD MEN and WOMEN that they can arbitrarily blow off their deaths, and instead, throw themselves into mourning for a "Pop Icon?"

I think that if they are going to hold a moment of silence IN CONGRESS for Michael Jackson, they need to hold a moment of silence for every service member killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. They need to PUBLICLY recognize every life that has been lost so that the American people can live their callous little lives in the luxury and freedom that WE, those that are living and those that have gone on, have provided for them. But, wait, that would take too much time, because there have been so many willing to make that sacrifice. After all, we will never make millions of dollars. We will never star in movies, or write hit songs that the world will listen too. We only shed our blood, sweat and tears so that people can enjoy what they have.

Sorry if I have offended, but I needed to say it. Remember these five words the next time you think of someone who is serving in the military;

"So that others may live..."

WOW its been a while!

Yeah I'm a slacker! I am not very good at updating this so here is a nut shell of what is going on. I started a new semester about 3 weeks ago and that is going alright. I have 3 classes that are kind of boring, but we all have to take classes like that right.
I finished my internship today. I had been working for a chiropractor a couple days a week since March but I finished my hours so I'm done now.... I like it so it's kind of a sad thing. I am hoping they will hire me for part time but we shall see.
I am still working at wally world as an overnight cashier/stockier/binner/cash office person/whatever else they decide they want to make me do for the day. It's alright for the most part.
What else.... oh, I am dating a guy named Kambrin, he's fun, I like him.

So about a month ago my friend Jeanne and I road tripped to Montana to visit my friend Nate and his wife, Emily, while he was on leave from Iraq. It was fun. We stopped and spent a night in Twin Falls on our way up, so her are some of the pictures....




Me and My Friend.... that's what I call her...
























Me and Emily




Nate and Emily Siebach






























































































There are more pictures but I'm to lazy to put them up right now... so maybe later if requested.

Boots

About a year ago I gave my aunt a couple of pictures that I had taken at the beach. She grew up I San Diego and then moved to Utah so I thought she would enjoy them. Well she married and cowboy who grew up in Utah and only wears boots when they go. She was redecorating the other day and decided it would be fun if I could take a picture of his boots with the mountains in the background so she could hang the picture up with the beach ones so there was a little of both of them there. Here is what we ended up with.....


The top one was the winner and the bottom one was just one I liked.

Tender Mercies

This week has been a really good one for the most part. It is amazing to see the Lord answer a prayer after waiting so long for what you have been praying for. I am so grateful to know that He hears us and that when the time is right He will bless us with His tender mercies.

I was blessed with another one this morning and thought I would share it with you. This beautiful sunrise I was able to see as I was driving home form work. We get some really pretty ones here, but this one, I thought was one of the prettiest I've seen in a while.... welcome spring.

I like this one the best because there is and airplane in the middle left of the picture if you look closely.

The others are just for fun! I hope you can enjoy it as much as I did.

Mary and Joseph

I have started working graveyards and they are kind enough to let us listen to our ipods with one headphone. I have found it a great time to listen to the scriptures as I don't have much time to read them these days. I love it!

The other day I was talking to a lady at work who was reading tis book called Mary and Joseph by Robert Marcum. It is historical fiction about the lives of Mary and Joseph, the earthly parents of Jesus Christ. My friend told me that Robert Marcum was doing a ton of research about the culture and all he could about the lives of Mary and Joseph....so I checked it out on CD from the library and put it on my ipod. It took me only two days to listen to it. It was an amazingly informative book! I don't think I ever really thought about Mary and Joseph as real people. This brought them to life for me and helped me to grow to love them. They knew before Jesus was born that He was to be our Messiah but could tell no one. They could not even talk to Jesus about it until he himself realized His call and mission to be the Savior of the world. As it went through their lives, and rituals it made me have a deeper understanding of the Jewish culture as well and a broader understanding of the law of Moses.
At the point in the book that was describing the slaughter of the children born in Bethlehem it never crossed my mind that they had no clue what had happened until years later. The point was brought out that so many children and parents had to die so that Jesus would live, but in the end He died so that they could live again.
This is a book I recommend. I could feel the Spirit confirm so many things as I was reading it. I love historical fictions and have a ton of time to listen to things, so if anyone has any book suggestions that are on tape let me know.

Panorama's

These are a couple of my panoramas from photography last semester, I took a bunch of pictures and then Photoshop merged them together for me....
This is the Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News building ....

This on is the Olympic oval and the poll that was by it for

the 2004 Olympics

I hate how these pictures don't want to work with me!!

to the left and below is the new temple they are building in West Valley/ West Jordan area. I am so excited for that one... it is going to be beautiful, just like the other ones!!

Freezing Time

I started working graveyard shift at this week at work and it has been a little bit of a challenge, but every day I find more blessings that come from it. First one was that I got an 80 cent raise, not too shabby. Second is that I don’t have to worry if school will fit into my work schedule, the down fall there is my sleep schedule suffers but I am learning to adjust.

Third is that I get to meet new people. I have come to find over the last couple of days that there are quite a few less/inactive members that work there. Some have no desire to come back, but there are a few that don’t seem too far off the path that maybe by my good works (missionary work) they will want to come back. and number four came this morning.

Oh how I wish I could freeze time! As I was driving home from work the moon was so beautiful. It was full and huge! It was even prettier because there were wispy clouds behind it that were illuminated by its light. My first thought was, I wish I had m camera, but I don’t dare keep my expensive camera in my car, so I decided to race the sun to see if I could get some picture. It was a warm 26 degrees outside and I didn’t have gloves so a lot of the shots were blurry.
I didn’t get it with the lit up clouds but as you can see I did get some pretty good shot. What a blessing it is to be able to see the beauty of this earth. It made me thankful for the gift of sight today, not that I am not grateful every day it is just something I take for granted. To add to the beauty of the moon I got to see the beautiful sunrise. It's the picture up top, it didn't want to go where I wanted it to. So there you have it.